March 25, 2024
Introduction:
Read more of the Eurekalert article here:(Eurekalert) New research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Virginia Tech suggests that technologies such as controlled environment agriculture and agrivoltaics may become part of the future of farming.
Controlled environment agriculture systems are typically enclosed or indoors. They include greenhouses, vertical farms, and hydroponics that use horticultural and engineering techniques beyond traditional, soil-based outdoor production. Agrivoltaics involve the use of land for both farming and solar photovoltaic energy generation.
A recent publication (see citation below) by USDA and Virginia Tech researchers highlights that these innovative techniques could increase yields, enhance nutrition, improve access to local foods, and provide better year-round access to fresh food than traditional large-scale outdoor production.
The research team found that even though these systems face technological and economic challenges, they are part of a long history of advancing technology for the U.S. agricultural sector.
The following is from a government report and restrictions on size of citation due to copyright considerations do not apply.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/public ... ?v=6473.7(USDA)Traditional greenhouses are an established production system. However, innovations in how crops are produced, including hydroponics and vertical agriculture, have led to growth in production and investment in the public and private sectors. AV (agrivoltaics) systems are an emerging technology without a well-established commercial presence, but there is growing public and private investment in research and development. The main findings include:
• The amount of specialty crop production with CEA (controlled environment agriculture) systems is small compared to outdoor production, but the number of individual CEA operations more than doubled to nearly 3,000 between 2009 and 2019.
• The quantity of crop production increased by 56 percent over that same period, from 502 million pounds to 786 million pounds.
*The aggregate sales value for CEA crops rose from $296 million in 1998 to $769 million in 2014 (in inflation-adjusted terms) but declined to $626 million in 2019 due to declines in the sales value of the dominant CEA crops (particularly tomatoes). This number is likely partly due to increased competition from imports, putting downward pressure on the value of sales per unit.
• Additionally, new technologies were used to produce a large share of total CEA production, with more than 60 percent of tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce grown using hydroponics in 2019.
• Recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding to support research and commercialization of CEA systems has increased substantially, including the awarding of contracts and grants exceeding $50 million since 2022 through USDA’s Office of Urban and Innovative Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
• As of 2021, most of the approximately 300 AV sites were solar farms planted with pollinator-friendly vegetative cover. Roughly 35 sites combined solar panels with vegetation that were grazed by sheep, and a few were co-located with specialty crop production, including blueberries.
• Research sites evaluating a variety of other AV systems with specialty crop and/or livestock production have been established, including several projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Office (DOE-SETO), which has been funding AV research since 2015. This funding included $7 million for AV research awarded in November 2020 for the colocation of pollinator-friendly vegetation, specialty crop production, and livestock grazing with solar panels.
